When I first came to Bolivia and settled down in Cochabamba, I discovered a group of photographers who organised regular meetings not far from where I lived. I met there people with whom I shared my passion and who will become one of my first ‘Facebook’ friends in Bolivia ;) However, I attended only two meetings before I moved to Santa Cruz de la Sierra… Thankfully, the new city, located in Bolivian tropics, had its own photography group which I discovered via Facebook – Fotografos de la Naturaleza en Bolivia.

I was never a nature photographer, but I appreciated the work of other people, who displayed not only a passion for nature and environment but also a big deal of patience and drive for adventure. I was mesmerised by the amazing images I found on this Facebook page, which have showed different parts of Bolivia, some of them I was fortunate to visit myself. My only regret is that I had never took part in any organised outing with the group, which is not only getting bigger each week, but also gets noticed by local authorities who see it as a great way to promote tourism. I had, however, met some of the members, two of whom I was admiring from the very beginning of my participation in the group.

Ruben Dario Azogue is one of the creators of the group and its leader. His landscape photography is close to perfection, carefully composed and tuned, but not over-processed. I like what he said in one of the interviews about the nature photography:

“We are hunters for imaging excellence. But instead of grabbing the gun to hunt, we grab a camera and we can feel the same adrenaline. It is very similar process: one has to crawl, lie on the ground, wait for prey and shoot it; but in this case the animal survives’ (La Region).

The other leader of the group is Ivan Gutierrez Lemaitre – a biochemist by profession. I admire especially his photographs of birds, taken with his ‘old’ and favourite camera, what he often emphasize, Sony Alpha :) The art-works of Ivan are the best example of an old saying that it isn’t a camera that makes a photographer. Just have a look!

Most of the members of the group created in 2007 are not photographers by profession, but through personal development they managed to reach the heights of photographic process. They gladly share their knowledge and experience with everybody, online and via organised workshops and events, which are mostly free of charge and open to anybody who wants to learn about photography.

Nature photographers of Bolivia very seldom gain financial profit from their images – they are rather driven by the preservation of the natural environment than money. And nowadays they mission is more important than ever, as country, which has one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, faces many ecological issues: poaching of jaguars and other wild animals in Amazon basin, illegal farming destroying natural habitats or mining for lithium, which could change the landscape of one of Bolivia’s most popular tourist destinations – Salar de Uyuni – forever. The members of the group, who live all around the country and travel to many not easily reached places, try to make other people aware of what they have at their doorstep and cautious that all this magical world of nature could have disappeared, if not protected.

“I’ve never felt so much fear before as when entering a protected area now, because I run into strange people and you do not know if they can harm you. The main concern today is the drug trafficking. (La Region)’

It’s worth to emphasize that the group consist of not only Bolivia born photographers but also foreigners like Polish Radek Czajkowski andGerman Steffen Richle, about whom I wrote before. And of course, this blog post could go on endlessly as there are so many other nature photographers in Bolivia worth mentioning, but I will have to finish here.

However, I welcome you to view a digital book presenting the eccelent work of other members of Fotografos de Naturaleza en Bolivia – ‘Bolivia en 100 Fotografias de Naturaleza’, put together by Ruben Dario Azogue in 2014. I wonder if you can find my photograph – a beautiful reminder of my precious time spent in Cochabamba?;)